Travelling Chronicles: Chapter 3
A Bit Under the Weather A few days had gone by since Nath had met Carwyn in Clover, far to the west of their current position. At least, according to his loyal compass, which had always done his job right despite its old age. As he came in view of a small town, that the mountains seemed ready to swallow under their enormous weight, the young man held up high his old navigation tool and raised his hand to protect himself from the sun's bright rays. It next went to his clammy forehead with the hope to dry it of all of Nath's sweat, that kept pouring endlessly. Despite the chilly air of mid-September, that had made his teeth clatter and grind when they took shelter under the trees for the night as he curled up against his sleeping daughter, rolled in their only blanket to protect her from the cold, it seemed the temperature had risen and he wouldn't stop grossly sweating. So much for taking a bath a few days ago... At that moment, as he walked under the blinding sun, he was dying to simply toss his shirt and let the air chill his overheated skin, but he perfectly knew why he couldn't do such a thing. All of that was making him terribly cranky, and he tried to show absolutely none of it by smiling brightly. Whenever he was pained or anguished, he'd smile to trick the pain inside into believing it was but an illusion. It didn't often work on himself, but Elysia wouldn't see the difference. "If I remember the barman's instructions right, this should be Eugenia. It's not exactly well-known, but I was told there would be work for us here. Something along the lines of a few monsters roaming around, nothing too complicated." he told his party, especially Carwyn, as he pointed the town they were getting closer of. "I heard they cultivate a rare type of plant that only grows in these mountains, can't remember what properties they have though. Something like healing?" "Oh, my sister knows a lot about healing! She might be here actually." She tapped her chin with a light hum before moving her hands to her hips. "Monsters won't be much of an issue. Let's get checked in to an inn, some food, and then we can be on our way to fighting evil monsters!" "Your sister, eh? Since you guys are twins, I bet we're gonna find her soon. But you're right, the inn comes first, if only for a meal." Nath nodded, smiling almost painfully as he tried to keep a brave face. In his arms, a grumpy Elysia was moving wildly, her little feet kicking the air angrily as she sucked in a few breaths, pouting slightly. "Elysia needs her meal, and I want to be sure we have somewhere to return to and to let her nap while we do our job. It could be too dangerous to go." Well, he didn't need a meal one bit, and he'd rather get done with the job quickly so he could dump himself into the nearest fountain, but Elysia came first and Carwyn surely needed a bit of rest as well before they fought. As the man of the party, he felt that it was his job to ensure his two companions were happy and healthy, and rest was essential to the latter of those things. But seriously, how could the temperature change so much from night to day? And how were all of these people dressing so heavily? He didn't remember having ever lived such a hot September. Weird. Diligently, he guided the party to the city, then through the streets with the help of a few pedestrians with very helpful advice, and let out a relieved breath when they finally arrived at the town's inn, a warm place full of warm people, and for all its friendlyness, Nath wasn't eager to spend much time in there because he was already suffocating with heat, and more people always meant more heat. After reserving a table to the barman, Nath let himself fall on the nearest chair and put Elysia down, who promptly begun to look around with round, curious eyes. "Don't worry about taking your time to eat, we have all day." he told Carwyn as their plates arrived on the table, and he grabbed Elysia once again to sit her on his knees and help her eat. Carwyn was definitely not taking her sweet time eating. She was eating as if she hadn't eaten in weeks, as if the world was ending and this was her last meal. And considering that she could also pay for herself, she ate a lot. When she was done, she had gotten through eight slices of pie, three plates of bacon, and two cups of coffee. She blinked owlishly at Nath. "I'll pay for all of this..." Nath chuckled. "Wow, was the food while we were travelling so bad? Or maybe you have a bigger stomach than I thought!" He laughed, a real laugh this time, genuinely amused by her antics. Although he was happy to see her with such an appetite, he felt sort of disgusted considering he didn't have one at the moment, having only nimbled on his part of the plate and being more focused on feeding Elysia. The thought of food made his stomach churn uncomfortably, so he simply fed the excess to his daughter. It wasn't lost for everyone! She smiled lightly but noticed he hadn't eaten anything, if much at all. "Hey, you okay, Nath?" She questioned lightly, brow creased in worry. "You haven't eaten much." "Yeah, I'm fine." Nath smiled dissimissively, using a pocket handkerchief to wipe Elysia's mouth as she banged her small fork on the table with impatience. "I'm just not very hungry. That's just gonna sit on my stomach as we fight and I don't like that much. Plus, the heat usually tends to cut my appetite, and with how hot it is today..." he chuckled, now using the handerchief to wipe his own sweating forehead with a meek smile, ignoring the beginning of the headache that was building up in his head. "No you - I mean," Carwyn cleared her throat awkwardly. "Nath it's freaking September. It's cold as heck. Dude, are you okay?" "It is hot... right?" Nath asked himself, looking puzzled. Why was he the only one to feel that? Was he really? Maybe some obscure magic was at work and affected either him only or the whole town minus him. Did it have to do with the monsters? Were they the source of it? What kind of spell could that be? Thinking about the possibilities only seemed to make him sweat harder, and he looked around suspiciously, feeling claustrophobic and observed. He didn't like the place. Maybe it'd be better if they found somewhere else where he could leave Elysia, he didn't want to leave her with these scrutinizing strangers. "I'm fine. But we may have less time than I thought. It feels like there's magic at play nearby. Maybe the monsters set a spell on the whole town... But what for? We shouldn't stay around anyways, I got a bad feeling about this..." he started muttering to himself, eyes darting all over the place but overall staying on his precious, only daughter, observing her as if she was walking on a mine field and he was trying to keep her from walking on any of them. Did the monsters have an interest in his daughter that would justify such a spell? He didn't get it. The cogs were turning too slowly in his head and he couldn't get the logic of all of this. All that he knew was that he felt trapped, and wanted out of it. "Nath, I don't think the monsters could cast a spell. I think you should sit out and stay with Elysia. I can probably handle the monsters myself." She sighed, shaking her head. "You're unwell. Someone needs to watch Elysia anyways. Monsters can get pretty rough." When hearing the words, Nath's mood immediately went from cranky to straight up furious and he slammed his fist against the table, shaking it and its contents for a faint second. Tremors of rage seized his clenched fists and, in a rare show of agressivity, he snarled at her, blinded by false convictions that his growing headache imposed to his mind. "No way. I came all of this way, so I'm coming! What are you taking me for?! Some cowardly, weak-arse girly running at the slightest glimpse of danger?! I've fought dozens of monsters before, and if you think a few more are gonna stop me just because it's a little hot, then I'm sorry but you're a poor judge of character!" He snapped, before slamming his money for the meal on the table, grabbing Elysia a little roughly and walking toward the stairs that lead to the inn's rooms. Right before taking them though, he whipped his head around to meet Carwyn's, and blurted out a last few words to her: "Meet me outside when you're done eating. We've wasted enough time already. This whole god-forsaken town could be cursed for all we know. Then, I'll show you weak." He then disappeared in the staircase, only leaving behind the sounds of furious stepping, until the sounds themselves were gone. Carwyn narrowed her eyes at his quick temper. No one ''spoke to her like that, usually not if they wanted to live. If he's going to be like this, than so be it. She can just make it a point to simply not care. She crossed her arms, no longer hungry for anything. She pushed the remains of her food away and paid before heading outside. The vines across her body squirmed with an itch to fight, and had she been a girl, they wouldn't be as harmless now as they were back then. She clenched her fist tighly, but did nothing to act on her anger. Elysia was quickly put to bed and without fussing, probably feeling how on edge her own father was and thus deciding not to cause him too much trouble, only whimpering a bit when Nath almost forgot to give her Pacy and Lily so she could have a peaceful nap. Children were more observant than they were given credit for, but exactly none of that was on Nath's mind. It felt as if every part of him was ''burning today, not only in temperature but in temperament as well. His patience was on its last legs, having submitted to the ugly feelings of anger and paranoia that churned within him. The more the minutes passed, the more he felt trapped and observed, caged within a fate that was not his to control or to influence. The strangers in the inn's restaurant had grown fangs spitting poison and eyes on their necks, spying his every movement, and even the walls had grown eyes that wouldn't seem to stop looking at him. He stepped outside, hands pouring with sweat, and took his most confident stance, or at least the best one his mind could provide him when all of the ugly he would never let people see boiled under his skin, at hand's reach, threatening to spill over and destroy everything he cared about. He was never afraid of the anger the moment it seized him. He was only ever afraid afterwards, when left standing in the middle of the mess he'd have made. "Let's go, we've already lost enough time." he barked lowly with sounds akin to growling mixing themselves into his speech. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid. He wouldn't show it. "The monsters' base is located a little to the north of the town, at about ten minutes at foot. We are to bring back proof that we defeated them by bringing back one of their horns, and we can pretty much do whatever we want to them as long as they don't reach town." She let out a low growl before she silently began her journey north. She wasn't going to speak to him. She was too angry to. How could he speak to her like that? What was up with him? She was a little worried, but that could wait until he was in better spirits. The previously mentionned den for the monsters came in sight after long minutes of silent walking. It was a wide cavern whose mouth looked oddly threatening with how stalactites and stalagmites dangled above their heads precariously like a trap about to close itself on them, deadly spears of rocks that'd kill them in a second before the monsters could even set their eyes on them. Dread was slowly filling Nath's chest with unsettling cold, that froze him to his bones while he had been burning just a few seconds ago. Clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering, he muttered nonsensically about how they didn't know the monsters' strenght or intelligence and how that could very well be a trap, a spell or anything threatening at all. As they walked forward silently into the cavern, the light that reached them dimished with the passing minutes, and it soon became hard to see a meter ahead. Wiping his sweaty hands – it had become hot again, almost suffocatingly so, and the sudden changes were really weirding Nath out, but he prevented himself from remarking on it – he reached for his torchlight in his backback and turned it on, only for it to shine right into the eyes of the monsters they were looking for. Scaly, winged monsters, with claws and horns and sharp teeth that glinted with pooling saliva. Fucking wyverns. Of course. "Fuck, you better get ready, these things are at least A Class monsters. Would have been nice to be, y'know, warned." He groaned as he took out his numerous swords with his Telekinesis, holding them close protectively. The space was cramped and the creatures copious. Definitely not the best environment for him to fully deploy his weapons. Fuck. He'd have to use his other, much less used and mastered assets. That was gonna be a pain in the ass. "You seize them, I strike." he commanded with an authoritative tone of voice. "We'll see who deals the most damage then." "Who dealsthe most damage doesn't matter. Wehave to take them down. Together. Unless you want to go ahead and do this yourself." She snapped, the vines on her body quickly shifting from two dimensional to three. She was prepared for the fight, but not if Nath couldn't seem to work with her. The wyverns seemed too big, even for her vines. She'd need to tap into the earth if she was going to get anywhere near defeating them. The cavern was entirely stone, too, so there wasn't much hope for her. Category:Role-Plays